


Don't Let Them See You Bleed

by Krasimer



Series: The Longest Roads Stretch Away [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anbu Yamato | Tenzou, BAMF Tsunade (Naruto), Big Brother Uchiha Itachi, Family, Gen, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Secrets, Spies, Strong Haruno Sakura, Subterfuge, Team as Family, Uchiha Itachi Being a Good Brother, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 14:18:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: His brother is doing what he always has.He has a job to do as well.(“Their actions are seen as in defense of Konoha,” Ibiki met Sasuke’s eyes. “With these testimonies and deeds, Uchiha Itachi is set to be cleared of the crimes attached to his name. With a warning from Sarutobi Asuma, however, we are going to be delaying that.”“Danzo,” Sasuke clenched his hands into fists. “He said something about that man being dangerous. About him being a problem. If he’d found Itachi’s mission papers before Asuma-sensei had, then it would have been bad.”)





	Don't Let Them See You Bleed

He knew more than he had ever known, before.

The cause of the blood being spilled, the loss of everything he had once known, the safety and comfort being pulled away. There was a concrete reason behind them and he knew it, now. His brother hadn’t been insane or power-hungry –

He had been protecting _him_.

Like he always had.

Sasuke looked out into the distance, holding his lunch in his lap as he continued to chew almost mindlessly. Itachi was out there, somewhere, was doing his best to stay alive and keep himself hidden from those who would try to kill him. His brother was a pacifist – one of the strangest things he had learned – and he was trying to keep a war from brewing up. With a sigh, he took another bite and felt his head turn in another direction.

Naruto was out there, somewhere, as well.

His big brother and his best friend, both removed from his sight. It made him worry about both of them. Itachi was at least gifted with a sense of self-preservation and he would make use of it. Naruto would run into a battle with no regard for his own safety – he had once launched himself almost directly into an attack because Sasuke had been injured and at risk.

The idiot would probably end up dead, if he wasn’t careful.

“Are you ready yet?” Kakashi’s voice was gentler than normal, his eye curved up into a smile as he crouched down next to Sasuke. Their training had been getting harder, more and more often, and somehow less of a strain as he progressed.

“Almost,” Sasuke took another bite, chewed it as quickly as possible while closing up the remainder of his lunch. He could finish it later. “Is Sakura joining us today?”

“Maa,” Kakashi turned his head, just slightly, and Sasuke almost dreaded what was coming next. “Do you have a crush on her, Sasuke? You’ve been asking if she’s joining us every time we train, lately.” He was teasing, Sasuke knew he was, but the idea of anything romantic between him and the pink-haired girl was…Upsetting. She was his friend, he could admit that, but she wasn’t a girlfriend. She would never be, if he had a say in the matter.

“No,” he said simply, letting his eyes go flat as he stared at Kakashi.

His sensei raised his hands in surrender, then stood up. “We should get going. Tsunade and Sakura aren’t the type to let us get away with being too late.”

And Sakura’s strength had started growing by leaps and bounds, lately. Tsunade was training her and the woman had taught her how to channel chakra into her fists. Given Sakura’s temper, Sasuke wasn’t sure it was the best idea, but she seemed to be enjoying it. The medical training was also a good thing for her, giving her a way to help people and keep those she cared about safe.

She had admitted to him that she had always felt sort of useless, when teamed with him and Naruto. Smart, bright, but ultimately useless.

It was good to see her change from feeling useless and being frustrating to deal with.

As they had grown up, he and her had become better friends.

Sasuke stood up as well, stowing his lunch in the bag he wore on his back. “Then we should go,” he headed out first, knowing that Kakashi would follow. The man had a habit of being infuriating and refusing to head out somewhere first – or of letting someone else lead the way, even if they had no idea where they were going.

It had forced Sasuke to know exactly where he was at all times.

As they headed towards the training field they would be using that day, Sasuke let his mind wander a bit. As he always seemed to, his thoughts trailed back to Naruto. The other boy had been out of Konoha for a month, now. He and Jiraiya had sent Tsunade back to the village but had stayed away themselves. Whatever training he was going through, Sasuke hoped he was doing good at it. They had been assigned to be a team and that had been the first actual friends that Sasuke’d had.

Tsunade had gotten to work immediately, first healing Lee after Gaara’s attack had left him mangled, then being almost forcefully inducted as Hokage. From what Sasuke had heard, she hadn’t really wanted the position.

Shaking his head, Sasuke dragged himself back to the present moment.

Standing on the training field, with Sakura and Tsunade, was a man he recognized from the Chuunin exams. The proctor for the first test – Ibiki? – was standing with his arms behind his back, nodding to something Tsunade was saying. When Kakashi and Sasuke walked up, however, he turned to look at them.

“I have some questions for you.” Was all he said.

Biting down on the wave of unease those words brought, Sasuke nodded. “Alright.”

“Your brother’s mission papers check out,” Ibiki turned back to Tsunade for a second. “The official Hokage’s seal, the seal of Sarutobi Hiruzen, has been found and verified on each of them. In the official record, your brother is on a sanctioned mission for the sake of the village.” His face seemed to relax a fraction. “Your brother was seen, at the exam when Orochimaru attacked, with a sword in hand.”

“I gave it to him,” Kakashi spoke up. “No need for him to go into a fight armed with only a kunai.”

Ibiki nodded again. “With his actions witnessed by many of the Anbu and by many of the Jounin of our village, your brother willingly put himself forth in an attempt to defend the life of our third Hokage. Following that, we have testimony from several others saying that Itachi defended their lives during the attack.” He paused, then continued on. “Or the man he was working with. Nara Shikamaru has stated that the man known as Hoshigaki Kisame defended him until his own sensei could arrive.”

“This is true,” Kakashi nodded. “Asuma and I arrived to find Shikamaru almost collapsed on the ground, with Kisame guarding him.”

“Their actions are seen as in defense of Konoha,” Ibiki met Sasuke’s eyes. “With these testimonies and deeds, Uchiha Itachi is set to be cleared of the crimes attached to his name. With a warning from Sarutobi Asuma, however, we are going to be delaying that.”

“Danzo,” Sasuke clenched his hands into fists. “He said something about that man being dangerous. About him being a problem. If he’d found Itachi’s mission papers before Asuma-sensei had, then it would have been bad.” He glanced at Sakura as she came and stood next to him. “Itachi protected me when he could have just let me die. He took an attack meant for me, causing the attacker to stop in the process.”

“While that was happening,” Sakura’s voice trembled slightly, but Sasuke was proud of his friend to hear it grow stronger as she spoke. “He managed to order Naruto to help me. If it was a selfish personal mission of just keeping his brother alive, he wouldn’t have done that. Instead, he got Naruto to help me and threw himself into danger to keep us _all_ alive. He helped talk down Gaara, allowing him to calm down enough to make Shukaku retreat.”

She finished her statement with her head held high, something fierce in her eyes.

Under Tsunade’s training, she had gone from an annoyance to someone he could happily call his friend. It had been good for her, after all.

And Kakashi’s training had been good for him.

Ibiki looked between the two of them for a moment, one corner of his mouth curled up in what might have charitably been called a smile. “Thank you for your time,” he inclined his head to Tsunade, his hands still clasped behind his back as he walked off.

With his departure, the entire group of them relaxed a bit. After a minute of silence, Kakashi turned to him and Sakura, smiling again. “We have someone new joining the group.”

His hands were tucked into his pockets, but Sasuke could see they were clenched into fists.

Whoever was joining them, Kakashi wasn’t happy about it. It didn’t take a genius to realize that, to see how unhappy Kakashi looked at the prospect of the new arrival. Tsunade looked as frustrated as Kakashi was unhappy, her jaw clenched as she nodded. “I tried doing what I could,” she breathed out through her nose, her lips clamped shut for a moment. It looked like she was trying to rein in her temper. “But he was insistent. The new shinobi joining your group is called Sai,” she looked at Sakura, then at Sasuke. “To keep Danzo from insisting that Naruto be labeled as a deserter for leaving the village at this time, I had to agree to allow one of his trained operatives to join you.”

“As a _deserter_?” Sasuke found the words yanked out of him before he was even aware he was saying them. “He’s more loyal to this village than anyone else I’ve ever met, despite how he’s treated!”

“I know, I know!” Tsunade raised her hands, an emptily placating gesture in Sasuke’s eyes. She sighed, rubbing at her temples. “His reasoning for it is that if Naruto truly isn’t a deserter, then you should have no problem with someone joining the team to keep tabs on you and your communications with him. If you’re innocent in this, then there is nothing to fear.”

This time, it was Sakura with a clenched jaw, her fists balled up at her sides. “We’ll be okay, Tsunade-Sama.”

Sasuke nodded as well. “We’ll learn what we can from him, as well.”

Glancing at each other, Sasuke and Sakura nodded. There had to be another reason for Danzo interfering – likely that he wanted to be able to keep Itachi from succeeding in what he was doing. Danzo had run Itachi out of the village with a promise of keeping Sasuke safe. When the mission papers had been found, Sasuke had been brought in as a witness to them.

Asuma and Tsunade had wanted him to know the truth in full of what his brother had bargained to keep him alive.

“Your new teammate is to join you tomorrow,” Tsunade’s voice was softer when she spoke again. “I managed to hold Danzo off that much.” She turned to Kakashi. “I’m allowing you the choice of whether or not to bring in another Jounin to keep track of the larger group. When a team reaches four Genin, you are allowed to have two Jounin.”

“Yamato,” Kakashi said it without any hesitance.

“He is not a Jounin.”

“No,” Kakashi’s eye curved up again. “But he is almost singularly capable of understanding and anticipating what an operative of Danzo’s might do. I don’t care how you have to phrase it in the paperwork, he is my choice for another higher-level Shinobi on this team. I don’t believe for a second that whatever operative Danzo sends along is going to be anything less than a Chuunin and I want someone on an equal level with the ability to predict what that operative might do to my students.” He put a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, his other on Sakura’s. “We have to anticipate and be several moves ahead in this game, Hokage-Sama. Moving Naruto to an unknown location was the first step – the Akatsuki cannot find him if he is not stationary. The next step is making sure that we can allow for error without allowing for total destruction.”

Tsunade stared at him for a minute, entirely silent, then nodded. “Good point.” She took a deep breath, then turned back to Sakura and Sasuke. “Be safe, you two. Some things are happening that I would prefer not to be Hokage for. I cannot imagine how unsettling they are for the two of you.”

“We’ll be okay, Tsunade-Sama.”

“I’ll keep them safe,” Kakashi added in.

Sasuke met her eyes, inclining his head a fraction. “I’ve got friends and family to look out for,” he told her quietly. “I’ll do my best.”

For a moment, it was the heartfelt promise of Naruto slipping out of his mouth, the way the other boy often charged ahead. The blond idiot was his best friend and he couldn’t deny it anymore – Itachi had given that back to him, at least. Tsunade smiled at him, reaching forward to put a hand on his head for a moment.

“That’s all I can ask of you,” she said quietly.

With that, she turned and walked away, flanked by the Anbu that always followed her. The one in the cat mask stopped for a second, seeming to watch Kakashi, then turned and followed after her. Kakashi, in return, lifted his chin and watched the Anbu go.

“Things are about to get a lot harder,” Kakashi said quietly. “We’ll have to train more often, we’ll have to keep moving ahead, and we’ll just have to have faith that Naruto is safe until he returns home.”

“We can do it,” Sakura looked at their sensei.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi as well, aware that he was waiting for something from him. “We can do this.” He confirmed, feeling a tightness in his chest.

Everything was changing and he couldn’t stop it, but he could help it along.

He could do his best to make sure his family was safe.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this part of the story! Sasuke is having some problems and a rough adjustment period, but he'll make it through. 
> 
> No curse-seal means he's not going to be a Fucking Idiot.


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